Bryce Harper and Kris Bryant went to a hockey game and Cubs fans lost their minds

Washington Nationals superstar Bryce Harper is still a year away from free agency, but Chicago Cubs fans can’t help but imagine him in their favorite team’s jersey. Harper fed right into those desires Tuesday night, as he attended a Las Vegas Golden Knights game with Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant.

From there, things kind of took on a life of their own. Any time Harper and Bryant are spotted together, Cubs fans start to dream about both of them driving in 130 runs every year while the Cubs defend their back-to-back-to-back future World Series titles.

Oh, and if you’re wondering why Harper and Bryant always seem to hang out together, it’s because they’ve known each other since childhood. Harper and Bryant grew up together in Las Vegas — which explains the picture — and even played on the same youth team.

It’s certainly possible we’ll look back on these photos at this time next year and point to them as the start of the Cubs’ recruiting pitch to Harper. It’s equally possible this is nothing more than two good friends hanging out in their home town.

For Cubs fans, it is absolutely the former. While we don’t want to say Cubs fans are irrational … Cubs fans are irrational. A quick look at Twitter in the moments after that picture emerged reveals plenty of people hoping this feeds into the speculation Harper will join the Cubs in a year.

That’s not just a random sampling of Cubs fans, either. If you check out the replies on the Golden Knights’ tweet, roughly 90 percent of them are people hoping Harper will sign with the Cubs.

Look, it’s the offseason. We can’t blame a fanbase for getting their hopes up about attracting a big-time free-agent. We just kinda wish the player they were drooling over was … you know … actually available right now.